Byron Dorgan: “The amendment offered this morning by Senator Byrd is an amendment dealing with the issue of funding the requirements of…”

“The amendment offered this morning by Senator Byrd is an amendment dealing with the issue of funding the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. I will talk about the Byrd amendment which provides additional funding for the Title I program, a major part of No Child Left Behind. The No Child Left Behind law passed the Congress with very wide support. It was proposed by the President. It was embraced by people on the left and the right in Congress. It had strong bipartisan support. But there are significant issues and problems attached to it, one of which is being addressed by this amendment offered this morning by my colleague. I come to the floor to support that amendment. I begin by saying that I am a little weary of people trashing public schools in this country. We have a wonderful educational system. We have significant challenges. There is no question about that. But we have a great educational system. We are one of the few countries in the world that early on started with a basic notion that every young child ought to be able to go through a classroom door and learn and become whatever their God given talents allow them to become.”